Girl talk
by knowregrets
Summary: Pulling Pigtails: During canon sixth year, five girls find their conversation interrupted by a distraught firstyear. The comfort they offer her provides a little nudge to Hermione. HermioneRon alluded to. OneShot


_A/N I originally perceived this as a conversation between a first year Lily and an older girl, about James. But then I thought of the Ron/Hermione bits and just had to place it in this era, so it's a first year OC - although I've kept her red hair. At the moment I'm keeping it as a one-shot, although I like the idea of the fourth floor girls loos and may use it again for another conversation. If I do, since it will likely have nothing to do with this, I'll probably post it as a separate piece._

**Girl talk**

The girl's toilets are, in many schools, much more than just a place to relieve oneself and freshen up. They are the place you go if you want a bit of a cry (unless a troll is loose in the school, of course, because that's a little unwise), the place you go for a good gossip (after all, where else could you tell everyone who is anyone just who you saw snogging behind the greenhouse?) and the place you go when you need a friend. Hogwarts is no exception to this universal rule, but being a large school, there was an unofficial split as to the function of each of the toilets. The toilets on the third floor, for example, were where you went if you wanted to talk make-up and hair, and the second floor toilets were a common meeting ground for some of the older students, who wanted slightly more serious talk. The fourth floor toilets were where Hermione overheard a conversation, the previous year, that had given her the idea for the DA; and they were the place she went to spread the word amongst girls in various houses, to gauge interest.

The nice thing about the fourth floor toilets, were that conversation was reasonably private, even Umbridge had never thought to bug the toilets and the younger students knew this was the older student's place and rarely came in, unless they happened to be on that floor and urgently needed to use the facilities. The Slytherin girls rarely made the trek upstairs to the fourth floor facilities when classes weren't going on, another bonus.

So it was really no surprise, one evening, to find a sixth-year Gryffindor, two sixth-year Hufflepuffs, a fifth-year Gryffindor and a fifth-year Ravenclaw, one evening, before dinner, perched on the windowsill in the fourth floor toilets, mulling over an article in that day's Daily Prophet. It was, however, a slight surprise, when the door opened and a small, red-haired, first-year girl ran into one of the cubicles and started sobbing.

The five girls looked at one another in slight consternation. "Um, are you all right?" Hermione called out. "I mean, of course you are not all right, but … can we help?"

"'M sorry," a small voice came from the other side of the cubical door.

"Don't be sorry, just … well, are you hurt?"

"No." Sniff.

"Did someone try to hurt you?"

"No." Sniff.

"Um, was someone mean to you?"

A fresh burst of sobbing greeted that last one.

"I take it that means yes," Ginny said wryly.

"Shh, Ginny," Hannah said.

It took a bit of cajoling, but finally the girl, who said her name was Lizzie, came out of the toilet cubicle.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Nonsense!" Hannah said firmly. "Hermione and I are prefects, we are supposed to help the younger students. Come over here and sit down and tell us all about it."

"It's silly."

"Not if it made you cry it isn't."

"It's this boy in my class, he said, he called me …" Lizzie started crying again, although more quietly this time.

"What did he call you?" Susan said gently.

"Carrots! And he said that I was the teacher's pet just because I answered a question in class! And he said it was int'resting 'cos my face went as red as my hair! And I know it sounds stupid, and I know I shouldn't be upset, but I was so excited to come here, and I never really had many friends before I came here, and I thought Hogwarts would be different, and that's what everybody used to call me at home, and they said I was weird, and I thought it would be different!" Lizzie finished on a wail.

"So did I," Hermione said abruptly. "I never had friends before, either, and when I first got here, it was horrible. Everybody called me a 'know-it-all' and I hated it."

"What happened?" sob.

"Well, I did run off and cry in the toilets! However, although it took time, I made friends." Hermione didn't think it was wise to mention trolls at this point.

"I nearly ran away from Hogwarts, once," Susan said, surprising everyone. "Back in the first term. I hadn't made any real friends, I missed my family; I felt like I didn't understand anything in class."

"I didn't know that!" Hannah said, staring at her.

"It's true. I even packed my trunk, ready to go."

"What happened?" Lizzie said, wide-eyed, tears, temporarily stopped.

"Hannah," Susan said, inclining her head. "She came to the dormitory and asked if I'd join their study group. I went down, because I knew I couldn't leave until everyone was asleep in bed anyway. We were looking at potions, I can't remember what it was, but I knew one of the answers and Hannah told me she was glad I was there because she would never have guessed herself."

The girls sat in silence for a moment, Hannah staring disbelievingly at Susan. "But I thought I was the only one who felt like that," she said.

"People steal my things sometimes," Luna put in.

"That's horrible!" Lizzie said in horror.

"They usually come back," said Luna, shrugging.

There was an awkward pause. Ginny cleared her throat, "I think, maybe, we all have a horrible first year, we just don't realise everyone else is too."

"Maybe," Susan said thoughtfully. "You more than most though."

"Why? What happened?" Lizzie asked curiously.

"Long story," said Ginny. "And not one for now, let's talk about you. Have you made any friends yet?"

"I thought I had," Lizzie said miserably. "I thought Peter was sort of my friend, but then he called me names."

"How did he say it?" Susan asked. "I mean, was he being stupid, or really being nasty?"

"Well, everyone at home used to call me carrots when they were being really nasty and wanted to make me cry."

"Did Peter know that?" Susan asked.

"No. I guess he was just being a bit mean, not really mean," she said thoughtfully, with a little sniffle. "It's just that I hate that so much …"

"I think, he's pulling your pigtails," Hannah said suddenly.

"What?"

"You're Muggle-born, right?"

"Ye … es. Why?" Lizzie sniffled.

"So you went to a Muggle primary school then." She got a puzzled nod in response. "Do you remember when you were five, what a boy would do if he wanted to be friends with a girl? He wouldn't say 'let's be friends.' Because, well, because he is a five-year-old boy and five-year-old boys are pretty stupid."

Lizzie nodded in complete understanding.

"Instead, what he'd do is pull the girl's pigtails."

"But …"

"But, you see, eleven-year-old boys aren't much smarter than five-year-old ones really. They don't know how to be friends with a girl."

"And the pure-blood ones are worse," added Susan, "because, before Hogwarts, most of us have never been to school at all, so we've been pretty isolated really."

"He's a pure-blood. I think."

"Exactly. So that's all he's doing. He's eleven, he's a boy, therefore, by definition, he's pretty stupid. He may not literally pull girl's pigtails anymore, but, in effect, that's what he is up to," Hannah said

"So teasing me is just like pulling my pigtails."

"Yep."

"So he wants to be friends with me? That's why he teased me?"

"Eleven-year-old boy, remember," Susan said. "Stupid."

"I don't know if I want to be friends with him now."

"You don't have to. But he is probably going to keep teasing you, whatever you do, it's the only way he knows how to communicate at the moment," Hannah sighed.

"How can I get him to stop?"

"Hex him," Ginny put in.

"Ginny! That is not the answer," Hermione said sternly.

"Rise above it," Susan said.

At the same time Ginny responded "Hey listen, I have six brothers, trust me, a hex works wonders."

"Just try to ignore him," Hermione said, giving Ginny a withering look. "He'll get better as he gets older, you never know, you might really be friends one day. My best friends were horrible to me once, in my first year, that's when I ended up in the loo crying. But they are my best friends now so …"

"But the people at my school, they weren't doing it because they liked me, they were trying to be mean."

"Yes, but you can tell the difference, can't you?"

"I guess."

Ginny had a brainwave. "Look, Lizzie isn't it?" Lizzie nodded. "I have this friend, hypothetically, who has this boy who's a friend. But, the thing is, he's a boy and, although he isn't eleven any more, he's still pretty stupid."

"It often takes boys a long time to grow up," Hannah said.

"Exactly. And this hypothetical boy, likes this hypothetical girl, he likes her a lot. But he doesn't know how to say that to her, so he argues with her."

"He pulls her pigtails," Lizzie said.

"Exactly! And this girl is a pretty stubborn sort, doesn't back down from an argument and all that."

"Must be a Gryffindor," Susan said, with a wink to Hannah.

"Ha, Ha. Anyway, that's what they do, all the time, they argue. And it's because this boy doesn't know how to tell this girl that he likes her."

"Why doesn't she tell him?"

"Well, she is a very smart girl, about lots of things, but, for some reason, she doesn't seem very smart about this boy."

"What happened?"

"Well, nothing so far, hypothetically, of course."

"Of course." Lizzie smiled slightly; her tears seemed almost completely gone now.

"All they do is argue, all the time. Those of us who … I mean, the girl and boy's hypothetical friends sometimes feel like saying 'For goodness sake, just shut up and snog already!'" Ginny mimed frustrated begging and made Lizzie giggle, while she sneaked a glance at Hermione, who was looking slightly pink. "If they weren't completely hypothetical, I'd probably tell the girl that the boy is congenitally stupid, even if, say, he was one of my brothers."

"For example." Hannah put in. Both Hannah and Susan were trying to conceal their grins.

"Absolutely. And the girl needs to, perhaps, give up on the idea of the boy making a move and make it herself."

Lizzie looked slightly confused, until she saw the look on Hermione's face. "Ah," she said. And then she turned to the others with a slight smile, "do you think this hypothetical girl should make the first move too?"

"Definitely," Susan said firmly.

"Completely," Hannah added.

"Yes, well, since this is completely hypothetical, it's beside the point isn't it?" Hermione put in huffily.

"Oh, I thought they were talking about you and R…" Luna started

"Completely hypothetical," Ginny said hastily, before Hermione exploded.

Lizzie giggled.

"Are you feeling better now?" Hannah asked, kindly.

"Yes," Lizzie seemed almost surprised. Thanks."

"No problem. You better run along and get ready for dinner."

"OK."

She was half way to the door when Ginny called out, "Oh, and if you ever do decide that hexing him is the answer, let me know, I've got a couple of good ones I can show you!"

"Ginny!" Hermione and Hannah said in unison.

Lizzie grinned at her, "thanks!" she called as she left.

"Honestly, Genevra Weasley How could you …"

"Hey, it cheered her up, and wasn't that the point?"

Hermione let out a "Hmph" but said no more.

"We better be getting going too," Susan said.

"So, are you bringing anyone to Slughorn's party?" Ginny asked as they were getting their stuff together.

"I thought I might ask Ron, actually," Hermione replied, giving Ginny a challenging look.

"Really?" Ginny replied. "That's nice."

"I think Ronald will say yes," Luna said carefully. "He quite likes you."

Hermione flicked her head and bustled out the toilets. Ginny followed, giving a grin to the two Hufflepuffs as she left.


End file.
